While players were enjoying one more day off before returning to work, Carolina Panthers' coaches were back in the office Monday morning. For defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, that meant watching film of the Seahawks' loss Sunday in Cincinnati.
What he saw was Seattle blowing a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter on an afternoon when quarterback Russell Wilson again had to run for his life. And while Wilson's leaky offensive line is a problem for him, his ability to make plays under pressure continues to be a problem for opposing defenses.
"I turn around to write something down, and I left it on play instead of hitting pause, and I turn back around and he’s still running around," McDermott said. “He gives you headaches. He drives you crazy.
"You see people when they do get him on the ground, the sideline erupts because everyone knows that’s such a big threat."
There have been plenty of celebrations across from the Seattle sideline so far this season. Wilson's line, which includes three converted defensive linemen, has given up a league-worst 22 sacks. Through five games, or 31 percent of the season, that's already halfway to Wilson's career high of 44 sacks in 2013.
If you thought the Panthers' line was bad in 2014, consider this — they gave up 10 fewer sacks through their first five games. So, yeah, the Seahawks are struggling to keep their quarterback upright, even if McDermott was leery about putting too much of the onus on the guys up front.
"Some of that gets spread around probably; they get blamed for it. Their offensive line does a nice job," McDermott said. "They ran the ball for almost 200 yards. They're an effective group when they play well together and I think that they have at times."
McDermott's nearly right about the success Seattle had on the ground in Cincinnati. It was 200 yards on the dot, led by running back Thomas Rawls, who totaled 169, the highest single-game total in the NFL this year.
If you don't play fantasy football, you may have never heard of Rawls, an undrafted rookie out of Central Michigan. But he's cracked 100 rushing yards in two of his three starts in place of Marshawn Lynch, who's been out with a hamstring injury.
"You look at the body types and they're somewhat similar. I do think both of the backs are very dangerous,” McDermott said. "Rawls, the one thing you notice about him in the two games of late has been his acceleration through the line. I think he brings a nice spark to that offense in that way."
It's too early in the week to know if Lynch will return to face the Panthers, but he's had a surprisingly quiet recent history against Carolina. In the Seahawks' four wins since 2012, Lynch hasn't scored while being limited to 249 yards on 66 carries. That comes out to an average of 3.77 yards per carry, nearly a yard less than his overall average the past four seasons.
But the Seahawks added to their role as Panthers' nemesis when they made an offseason trade for a guy who's long been a thorn in their side. When he was with the Saints, tight end Jimmy Graham racked up 56 receptions, 700 yards and eight scores in 10 games against the Panthers. His targets have nose-dived in Seattle, but if the Seahawks ever feel like using him, Graham can still be a dangerous threat.
“What we know of Jimmy from being in the division is certainly a threat over the top, certainly a threat above the rim," McDermott said.
The Panthers could line up rookie Shaq Thompson across from Graham, and Thomas Davis, who's never been a big Graham fan, should get a shot as well. But who will be next to them?
As of Monday afternoon, linebacker Luke Kuechly was still in the NFL's concussion protocol, but the hope is he'll be cleared to practice on Tuesday. Coach Ron Rivera warned last week that when Kuechly returns, he may not play every snap right away. Even so, if the Panthers are going to finally knock off their nemesis, some of Kuechly is better than none.
"It’ll be tough from the standpoint of wanting to come out because all great players think they can always help the team. But we’ve got to look at the big picture here and be realistic,” McDermott said.
"We’ve got four good days of practice on tap and we’ll see how his conditioning is. Luke’s a highly conditioned athlete. He’s been staying involved the whole way, or as much as he could have. And he had a bye week. We’ll just take it one day at a time."